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HISTORY 



OF THE 



German-American 



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FIRST EDITION 









Copyright, 1917, by 
A. A. KING. 



MAY 15 1917 



©CI, A 460828 



1 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 




THE AUTHOR 

A. A. KING 
Teacher, soldier, editor. 

Author of Gems and Jewels, Across the Continent, Key to the 
Philippine Languages, and History of the German-American War. 
Philippine service: 45th U.S.V. Infantry, Spanish-American War. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 



DEDICATED 

To the patriotic men and women who answered 
their country's call in 1917. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 




N JANUARY 31, 1917, the 
Imperial German government 
notified the World that be- 
ginning- February 1st, 1917, all 
merchant vessels, neutral or oth- 
erwise, would be sunk without 
warning in a certain prescribed 
zone of the Atlantic ocean. This 
being a violaton of International 
Law, President Wilson immedi- 
ately broke diplomatic relations 
with Germany. The threat was 
carried out and war became in- 
evitable. 



6 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 





feS'm;-\-Ki'l?l^ 



KAISER WILHELM II. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 




Indian Scouts 

With the proclamation of war, 
great numbers of American In- 
dians on the reservations of 
Western States offered their 
service to the "Great White 
Father" as scouts; as the world 
knows no better scout than the 
American redman, many were en- 
rolled, and preparation for the 
long voyage over sea began with 
an enthusiasm that made theiir 
pale faced brothers who refused 
to volunteer blush with shame. 
Keenness of sight, alertness of 
hearing and a panther like ability 
to creep up on their enemy un- 
heard and unobserved, make these 
natives a dangerous foe indeed. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 



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HISTORY 



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GERM AN - AMERICAN WAR 



WASHINGTON, April 2.— The address of the President follows: 

"Gentlemen of the Congress : 

"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because 
there are serious — very serious — choices of policy to be made, and 
made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally 
permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making. 

"On the third of February last I ofificially laid before you the ex- 
traordinary announcement of the imperial German government that 
on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside 
all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink 
every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain 
or Ireland or the western coasts of Europe, or any of the ports con- 
trolled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. 

"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine 
warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial 
German government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its 
undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that 
passenger" boats should not be sunk, and that due warning would 
be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to 
destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted and 
care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save 
their lives in their open boats. 

"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as 
was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of 
the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint 
was observed. 



10 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 



PRESIDENT WILSON 

(LATEST PHOTOGRAPH) 



za 




-gZEgEBS^ ©HARRIS C- EWING, WASiimGTOM.PC 




HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 11 

"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of 
every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their 
destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom 
without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on 
board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belliger- 
ents, even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely be- 
reaved and stricken people of Belgium. The latter, which were 
provided with safe conduct through the prescribed areas by the 
German government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable 
marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of 
compassion or of principle. 

"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would 
in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to 
the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its 
origin in the 'attempt to set up some law which would be respected 
and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right or dominion 
and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage 
after stage has that law been built up, with meager enough results, 
indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but 
always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience 
of mankind demanded. 

"This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside 
under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no 
weapons which it could use at sea except those which it is impossible 
to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all 
scruples of humanity or respect for the understandings that were 
supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. 

'T am not now thinking of the loss of property 'involved, im- 
mense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale 
destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men. women and children, 
engaged in pursuits which have always even in the darkest periods 
of modern history, been deemed innnocent and legitimate. Property 
can be paid for ; the lives of peaceful and innocent cannot be. 

"The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a 
warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American 
ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has 
stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other 
neutrsJ and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in 



12 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 



VICE PRESIDENT MARSHALL 

(LATEST PHOTOGRAPH) 




HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 13 

the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The 
challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how 
it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made 
with a modification of counsel and a temperance of judgment befitting 
our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited 
feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious as- 
sertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication 
of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. 

"When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February 
last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral right with 
arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our 
right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed 
neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because the submarines 
are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been 
used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships 
against their attacks, as the law of nations has assumed that 
merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, 
visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence 
in such circumstances, grim necessity in deed, to endeavor to destroy 
them before they have shown their own intentions. They must be 
dealt with on sight, if dealt with at all. 

"The German government denies the right of neutrals to use 
arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has prescribed, even 
in defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before 
questioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that 
the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will 
be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as 
pirates would be. 

"Armed neutrality in ineffectual enough at best; in such circum- 
stances, and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectu- 
al; it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is 
practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights 
or the effectiveness of belligerants. 

"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of mak- 
ing; We will not choose the path of submission and suffer more 
sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. 
The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are not common 
wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life. 



14 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical charac- 
ter of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it} 
involves. But in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my con- 
stitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course 
of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than 
war against the Government and people of the United States; that it 
formally accepts the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust 
upon it; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country 
in a more thorough state of defense, but also to exert all its poweri 
and employ all of its resources to bring the Government of Germany 
to terms and end the war. 

"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost prac- 
ticable co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now 
at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those 
governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our 
resources may as far as possible be added to theirs. 

"It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the ma- 
terials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the 
most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way 
possible. 

"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all 
respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of 
dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate 
addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided! 
for by law in case of war at least five hundred thouscuid men, who 
should, in my opinion, be chosen upon te principle of universal 
liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent addition- 
al increments of equal force as soon as they may be needed and can 
be handled in training. 

"It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits 
to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably 
be sustained by the present generation, by well-conceived taxation. 

"I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because 
it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which 
will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, 
I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may 
against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely 
to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 15 

"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be 
accomplished, we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of in- 
terfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equip- 
ment of our own military forces with the duty — for it will be a very 
practical duty — of supplying the nations already at war with Ger- 
many with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by 
our assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in 
every way to be effective there. 

'T shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several execu- 
tive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your 
committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several objects 
I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with 
them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch 
of the Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the 
war and safe-guarding the nation will most directly fall. 

"While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let 
us be very clear and make very clear to all the world what our motives 
and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its 
habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two 
months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been 
altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in mind 
now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 22nd of 
January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the 
Congress on the 3rd of February and on the 26th of February. 

"Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principle of peace 
and justice in the life of the world as against the selfish and auto- 
cratic powers and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed 
peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will 
henceforth insure the observance of those principles. 

"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of 
the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples and the menace 
to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic govern- 
ments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their 
will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neu- 
trality in such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in 
which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of 
responsibility for wrong-doing shall be observed among nations and 
their governments that are observed among the individual citizens 
of the civilized States. 



16 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feel- 
ings towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not 
upon their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. 
It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war 

determined upon as wars used to be determined on in the old, un- 
happy days when peoples were nowise consulted by their rulers and 
wars were provoked and waged in the interests of dynasties or of 
little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their 
fellow men as pawns and tools. 

"Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies 
or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of 
affairs which will give them the opportunity to strike and make con- 
quest. Such designs can be successfully worked out only under 
cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. 

"Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, 
it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and 
kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the 
carefully guarded confidence of a narrow and privileged class. They 
are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists 
upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. 

"A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except 
by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government 
could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. 

"It must be a league of honor partnership of opinion. Intrigue 
would eat its vitals away ; the plottings of inner circles who could 
plan what they would and render account to no one would be a cor- 
ruption seated at its very heart. Only free people can hold their 
purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the 
interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. 

"Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to 
our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heart- 
ening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in 
Russia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been 
always, in fact, democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her 
thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke 
their natural instincts, their habitual attitude towards life. 

"The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political struc- 
ture, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 17 

was not, in fact, Russian in origin, character or purpose ; and now 
it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have 
been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that 
are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice and for peace. Here 
is a fit partner for a league of honor. 

"One of the things that has served to convince me that the Prus- 
sian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from 
the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting com- 
munities and even our offices of Government with spies and set crimi- 
nal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, 
our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. 

"Indeed it is now evident that spies were here even before the 
war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact 
proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more 
than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocat- 
ing the industries of the country have been carried on at the instiga- 
tion, with the support and even under the personal direction of 
official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 

"Even in checking these things to extirpate them we have sought 
to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because 
we knew their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the 
German people towards us (who were no doubt as ignorant of them 
as we ourselves were), but only in in the selfish designs of a govern- 
ment that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. 

"But they have played their part in serving to convince us at 
last that that government entertains no real friendship for us and 
means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That 
it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the inter- 
cepted note to the German minister at Mexico is eloquent evidence. 

"We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we 
know that in such a government, following such methods, we can 
never have a friend ; and that in the presence of its organized power, 
always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there 
can be no assured security for the democratic countries of the world. 
"We are now about to accept the gage of battle with this natural 
foe to liberty and shall if necessary spend the whole force of the 
nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are 
glad now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about 



18 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

them, to fight thus to the ultimate peace of the world and for the 
liberation of its peoples, the German people included ; for the rights 
of nations, great and small, and the privilege of men everywhere to 
choose their way of life and of obedience. 

"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be 
planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have 
no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We 
seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the 
sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of 
the rights of mankind. We shall have been satisfied when those 
rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of 
nations can make them. 

"Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, 
seeking nothing for ourselves, but what we shall wish to share with 
all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations, as 
belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud 
punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be 
fighting for. 

"I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial 
Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us 
or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro- 
Hungarian Government has indeed showed its unqualified indorse- 
ment and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare 
adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, 
and it has therefore not been possible for this Government to receive 
Count Tarnowski, the ambassador recently accredited to this Govern- 
ment by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; 
but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against 
citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for 
the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with 
the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are 
clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending 
our rights. 

"It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents 
in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, 
not in enmity, towards a people or with the desire to bring any 
injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to 
an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considera- 
tions of humanity and right and is running amuck. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 19 

"We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German 
people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establish- 
ment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us — however 
hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe this is spoken 
from our hearts. 

"We have borne with their present Government through all these 
bitter months because of that friendship — exercising a patience and 
forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. 

"We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friend- 
ship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men 
and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst 
us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all 
who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the Government in 
the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Ameri- 
cans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. 
They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining 
the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should 
be disloyalty it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repres- 
sion; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there 
and without countenancce except from a lawless and malignant few. 

"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, 
which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may 
be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifices ahead of us. It is a 
fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most 
terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in 
the balance. But the right is more precious than peace and we 
shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our 
hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to author- 
ity to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and 
liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such 
a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations 
and make the world itself at last free. 

"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, every- 
thing that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of 
those who know that the day has come when America is privileged 
to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her 
birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God 
helping her, she can do no other." 

(Signed) WOODROW WILSON. 



20 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

WASHINGTON, April 6.— The resolution declaring that a state 
of war exists between the United States and Germany, already passed 
by the Senate, passed the House shortly after 3 o'clock this morning 
by a vote of 373 to 50. 

President Wilson signed the resoltuion as soon as Vice-President 
Marshall had attached his signature in the Senate. It formally 
accepts the state of belligerency forced by German aggression and 
authorizes and directs the President to employ the military and naval 
forces and all the resources of the nation to bring war against 
Germany to a successful termination. President Wilson signed the 
resolution at 1 :18 p. m., and issued a proclamation declaring the 
United States of America in a state of war. 



TEXT OF MEASURE PASSED BY. CONGRESS. 

"Whereas, the Imperial German Government has committed re- 
peated acts of war against the government and the people of the 
United States of America, therefore, be it 

"Resolved, by Congress and House of Representatives of the 
United States in Congress assembled, that the state of war between 
the United States and the Imperial German Government which has 
thus been thrust upon the United States in hereby formally declared ; 
and that the President be and he is hereby authorized and directed to 
employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and 
the resources of the government to carry on war against the Imperial 
German Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termin- 
ation, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the 
Congress of the United States." 



GERMAN SHIPS SEIZED 
WASHINGTON, April 6.— Nearly 100 German merchant vessels 
in American ports, which were taken over today by the Treasury 
Department, probably will be utilized in the government service, but 
whether they will be confiscated or paid for after the war had not 
been announced tonight. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 21 

Anxious to observe treaty obligations strictly, and move in ac- 
cordance with international law, officials will examine precedents 
carefully before deciding. Fourteen can carry at a speed faster than 
fourteen knots 40,000 troops. The entire American merchant fleet 
available can carry only about 20,000 troops at less speed. 

Quick Action 

The German vessels were seized early today immediately after 
the House passed the war resolution. The fact that many of the 
crew are naval reservists will not serve to bar them as immigrants. 

There were indications today that damage done to the ships by 
their crews when relations between the United States and Germany 
were broken, will be repaired and the ships put into the trans-At- 
lantic trade to send food to the Allies. 

The total tonnage of the vessels seized amounts to 629,000 gross 
tons. That tonnage could not be built in American yards in less 
than a year and some of the larger ships, notably the Vaterland, 
could not be produced in the United States in several years. All of 
the ships will have to be drydocked before they can be made sea- 
worthy. Bureau of Navigation officials pointed today to practical 
differences that will delay repairs in that the ships will fill the 
country's dry docks for some time to come. The great Vaterland, 
with a tonnage of 54,000, will have to be towed to Balboa to be 
docked. The earliest time estimated to put any of the vessels into 
service is three months. 

List of Vessels 

The vessels taken in charge today are : 

At New York: Vaterland, 54,281 tons gross; George Washington, 
25,570; Kaiser Wilhelm II, 19,361; President Lincoln, 18,161; Presi- 
dent Grant, 18,072; Pennsylvania, 13,333; Grosser Kurfuerst, 13,102; 
Barbarossa, 10,984; Prinzess Irene, 10,893; Friederich der Grosse, 
10,771; Hamburg, 10,531; Koenig Wilhem II, 9410; Borema, 8414; 
Armenia, 5464; Adamstrum, 5000; Pisa, 4967; Prinz Joachim, 4760; 
Prinz Eitel Frederich, 4650 (not auxiliary of same name now at 
Philadelphia); Allemania, 4630; Magdeburg, 4497; Hamburg, 4472; 
Nassovia, 3902; Portonia, 2778; Maia, 2555; Clara Mennim, 1685; 
Inda, 1746; Matador, 1468. 



22 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

At Boston: Amerika, 22,622; Kronprinzessin CecilHe, 19,503; 
Cincinnati, 16,339; Koln, 7409; Wittekind, 5640; Ockenfels, 5621. 

At New London: Willehad, 4761. 

At Baltimore: Bulgaria, 11,440; Rhein, 10,058; Neckar, 9385. 

At Philadelphia: Rhaetia, 6600; Prinz Oskar, 6026. 

At Newport News : Arcadia, 5454. 

At Wilmington, N. C. : Kiel. 4494; Nicaria, 3974. 

At Savanah : Hohenfelde, 2974. 

At Charleston : Liebenfels, 4525. 

At Pensacola: Rudolph Blumberg, 1769; Vogesenen, 3916. 

At Jackson : Frieda Leonhardt, 2822. 

At New Orleans: Breslau, 7524; Andromeda, 2554. 

At San Francisco: Serapis, 4756; Neptune, 4197; Ottawa, 3659. 

At Portland, Or.; Dalbek, 2723. 

At Winslow, Wash.: Saxonia, 4424; Steinbek, 2164. 

At Astoria: Arnoldus Vinnen. 1859; Kut, 3109. 

At Honolulu: Pommern, 6557; Prinz Waldemar, 3227; Setos, 
4730; Holsatia, 5649; Locksun, 1657; Loong Moon, 1971; Staas Zak- 
retar Kraetke, 2009; Governor Jaeschke, 1738. 

At Hilo: C. J. D. Ahlers, 7490. 

At San Juan, P. R. ; Odenwald, 3537. 

At Pago Pago, Samoa: Elsass, 6591. 

At Manila : Andalusia, 5433 ; Buchum, 6161 ; Camilla Rickmers, 
5130; Carl Deiderichsen, 1243; Clara Jebsen, 1735; Coblende, 3130; 
Elmshorn, 4594; Esslingen, 4902; Johanne, 1531; Lyeemoon, 1925; 
Mark, 6579; Pong Tong, 1630; Rajah, 2028; Sahsen, 8007; Sambia, 
4765; Suevia, 3780; Tubingen, 5582. 

At Zamboanga: Borneo, 2168; Marudu, 1514; Darvel, 1308. 

At Cebu : Prinzess Alice, 10,981 ; Tsin Tau, 1685 ; Wiegand, 4999. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 23 

AMERICA - PROCLAMATION OF WAR, 

UNITED STATES VS. GERMANY. 



WASHINGTON, April 6.— Following is the official text of the 
proclamation of war issued today by the President after he had 
signed the joint resolution of the House and Senate declaring a state 
of war existing between the United States and Germany : 

Whereas the Congress of the United States in the exercise of 
the constitutional authority vested in them have resolved by joint 
resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives bearing date 
this day "that a state of war between the United States and the 
imperial German government, which has been trust upon the United 
States." is hereby formally declared ; 

"Whereas it is provided by Section 4067 of the revised statutes 
as follows : 

"Whenever there is declared a war between the United States 
and any foreign nation or -government or any invasion or predatory 
incursion perpetrated, attempted or threatened against the territory 
of the United States by any foreign nation or government and the 
President makes public proclamation of the event, all natives, citi- 
zens, denizens or subjects of a hostile nation or government being 
male of the age of 14 years and upwards who shall be within the 
United States and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be ap- 
prehended, restrained, secured and removed as alien enemies." 

The President is authorized in any such event by his proclama- 
tion thereof or other public acts, to direct the conduct to be observed 
on the part of the United States toward the aliens who become so 
liable ; the manner and degree of the restraint to which they shall be 
subject and in what cases and upon what security their residence 
shall be permitted and to provide for the removal of those who, not 
being permitted to reside within the United States, refuse or neglect 
to depart therefrom ; and to establish any such regulations which are 
found necessary in the premises and for the public safety; 

Whereas, by Ses. 4068, 4069, and 4080, of the revised statutes 
further provision is made relative to alien enemies; 



24 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim, to all whom it may concern, 
that a state of war exists between the United States and the imperial 
German government, and I do specially direct all officers, civil or 
military, of the United States, that they exercise vigilance and zeal 
in the discharge of the duties incident to such a state of war, and 
I do, moreover, earnestly appeal to all American citizens that they 
in loyal devotion to their country dedicated from its foundation to 
the principles of liberty and justice, uphold the laws of the land and 
give undivided and willing support to those measures which may be 
adopted by the constitutional authorities in prosecuting the war to 
a successful issue and in obtaining a secure and just peace; 

And, acting under and by virtue of the authority vested in me 
by the Constitution of the United States and the said sections of the 
revised statues ; 

I do hereby further proclaim and direct that the conduct to be 
observed on the part of the United States towards all natives, citizens, 
denizens or subjects of Germany, being male, of the age of 14 years 
and upwards, who shall be within the United States and not actually 
naturalized, who for the purpose of this proclamation and under such 
sections of the revised statues are termed alien enemies, shall be 
as follows : 

All alien enemies are enjoined to preserve the peace towards the 
United States and to refrain from crime against the public safety and 
from violating the laws of the United States and of the States and 
Territories thereof and to refrain from actual hostility or giving in- 
formation,, aid, or comfort to the enemies of the United States and 
to comply strictly with the regulations which are hereby or which 
may be from time to time promulgated by the President and so long 
as they shall conduct themselves in accordance with law they shall 
be undisturbed in the peaceful pursuit of their lives and occupations 
and be accorded the consideration due to all peaceful and law-abiding 
persons, except so far as restrictions may be necessary for their own 
protection and for the safety of the United States and towards such 
alien enemies as conduct themselves in accordance with law, all 
citizens of the United States are enjoined to preserve the peace and 
to treat them with all such friendliness as may be compatible with 
loyalty and allegiance to the United States. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 25 

And all alien enemies who fail to conduct themselves as so en- 
joined in addition to all other penalties prescribed by law, shall be 
liable to restraint or to give security or to remove and depart from 
the United States in the manner prescribed by Sees. 4069 and 4070 
of the revised statutes and as prescribed in the regulations duly 
promulgated by the President. 

And pursuant to the authority vested in me, I hereby declare and 
establish the following regulations which I find necessary in the 
premises and for the public safety ; 

(1.) An alien enemy shall not have in his possession at any time 
or place any firearms, weapons or implement of war, or component 
parts thereof, ammunition, Maxim or other silencer, arms or explo- 
sives or material used in the manufacture of explosives ; 

(2.) An alien enemy shall not have in his possession at any time 
or place or use or operate any aircraft or wireless apparatus of any 
form of signaling device or any form of cipher code or any paper, 
document or book, written or printed in cipher or in which there 
may be invisible writing; 

(3.) All property found in the possession of an alien enemy in 
violation of the foregoing regulations shall be subject to seizure by 
the United States ; 

(4.) An alien enemy shall not approach or be found within one- 
half of a mile of any Federal or state fort, camp, arsenal, aircraft 
station, government or naval vessel, navy yard, factory or work shop 
for the manufacture of munitions of war or any products for the use 
of the army or navy ; 

(5.) An alien enemy shall not write, print or publish any attack 
or threat against the government or Congress of the United States or 
either branch thereof, or against the measures or policy of the United 
States or against the persons or property of any person in the 
military, naval or civil service of the United States or of the States 
or Terirtories or of the District of Columbia or of the municipal 
government therein ; 

(6.) An alien enemy shall not commit or abet any hostile acts 
against the United States or give information, aid or comfort to its 
enemies ; 

(7.) An alien enemy shall not reside in or continue to reside in, 
to remain in or enter any locality which the President may from time 



26 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

to time designate by an executive order as a prohibited area in which 
residence by an alien shall be found by him to constitute a danger 
to the public peace and safety of the United States except by permit 
from the President and except under such limitations or restrictions 
as the President may prescribe; 

(8.) An alien enemy whom the President shall have reasonable 
cause to believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy or to be at 
large to the danger of the public peace or safety of the United States 
or to have violated or to be about to violate any of these regulations, 
shall remove to any location designated by the President by execu- 
tive order and shall not remove therefrom without permit, or shall 
depart from the United States if so required by the President; 

(9.) No alien enemy shall depart from the United States until 
he shall have received such permit as the President shall prescribe 
or except under order of a court, judge or pustice, under Sees. 4069 
and 4070 of the revised statutes. 

(10.) No alien enemy shall land in or enter the United States 
except under such restrictions and at such places as the President 
may prescribe; 

(11) If necessary to prevent violation of the regulations all alien 
enemies will be obliged to register; 

(12.) An alien enemy whom there may be reasonable cause to 
believe to be aiding or about to aid the enemy, or who be at large to 
the danger of the public peace or safety or who violates or who 
attempts to violate or of whom there is reasonable ground to believe 
that he is about to violate any regulation to be promulgated by the 
President or any criminal law of the United States, or of the States 
or Territories thereof, will be subject to summary arrest by the 
United States Marshal or his deputy or such other officers as the 
President shall designate, and confinement in such penitentiary, 
prison, jail, military camp or other place of detention as may be 
directed by the President. 

This proclamation and the regulations herein contained shall 
extend and apply to all land and water, continental or insular, in any 
way within the jurisdiction of the United States. 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 27 
CREW BLOWS UP MAN-O'-WAR HELD AT GUAM 



Five Men Killed Before United States Takes Charge of Big 

Teuton Force. 



WASHINGTON, April 7.— The first German deaths in the war 
against America came when the German cruiser Cormorant was 
blown up by her own crew rather than surrender to the United 
States authorities in the chief port of Guam late yesterday. 

One German warrant officer and four enlisted German sailors 
met death. 

Other members of the crew of the German cruiser were captured, 
numbering 22 officers and 321 men. 

Chased Into Port. 

The Cormorant, which was an auxiliary cruiser, interned at Guam 
early in the war after having been chased into American waters by 
a Japanese warship. 

At the time of the break with Germany it was announced that 
extensive damage had been done to the machinery of the Cormorant, 
but no move was made until yesterday to take her over by the United 
States authorities. 

The German crew refused to surrender the vessel and blew her up.i 

Crew Deserts 

Previous to this a number of the members of the Cormorant's 
crew had violated their paroles and had deserted, one of them being 
captured in the United States, to which he had made his way on a 
merchant ship. 

She was originally a Russian vessel, but was captured by Ger- 
many at the outbreak of the present war. She was of 5000 tons and 
was sent out from Kiao Chau, China, as a commerce raider in the 
Indian ocean. Being close pressed by Japanese and British warships, 
her captain entered Guam in December, 191.4, and interned for the 
war. 



28 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

FIVE HUNDRED ARE MAIMED IN TERRIFIC EXPLOSION 
LAID TO TEUTON SPY 

PHILADELPHIA, April 10.— One hundred thirty-five persons, 
most of them girl munition workers, were killed and approximately 
500 injured in a series of explosions at the plant of the Eddystone 
Ammunition Corporation at Eddystone, Pa., near this city, today. 

It was the worst disaster that has befallen an American ammuni- 
tion plant since the outbreak of the world war. 

The entire plant, worth millions of dollars, is theratened with de- 
struction by fire which is raging through the buildings and making 
the task of rescuing the wounded one of terrible hazard. 

Showing heroism greater than facing European cannon, rescuers 
charged into buildings piled with explosives and brought out wounded 
and dying women. 

A frequent intervals there were explosions that shook the country 
for miles around. 

Rescuers Perish 

Many of the rescuers have lost their lives in their heroic task. 

Eight or nine buildings were blown up in the first great blast, 
according to persons who witnessed the explosion. 

Although the cause of the original explosion has not yet been 
definitely ascertained, it is believed to have been due to a foreign 
spy plot. 

Every available operative of the United States secret service in 
this vicinity is working on the case. 

The work of removing the dead and dying is proceeding slowly 
because of the terrible hazard of the occupation. 

Many Maimed 

A number of maimed munition workers, realizing that death was 
inevitable, made dying requests for spirtiual consolation. Clergy of 
several churches in Chester risked their lives by going into the smok- 
ing ruins and administering the last rites. 

The injured were removed in wagonloads to Chester. As the hos- 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 29 

pital there became filled beyond capacity they were taken to the 
Chester armory and many of them placed in cots in the armory 
lawn. Immediately following the explosion and fire a heavy guard 
was thrown about the plant. A score or more newspaper men and 
photographers who insisted on getting through the lines were 
arrested. This caused a lack of details until hours later. 

Hospitals Filled. 

The hospitals of Chester, Pa., are filled with injured brought from 
the explosion. The department of health and charities of Philadel- 
phio and the Pennsylvania railroad have rushed all available physi- 
cians and nurses to aid in caring for the injured. 

At the session of the Coroner's Jury it was brought out in direct 
testimony of survivors that matchheads and steel filings had been 
found in some of the empty shells, which would have caused an 
explosion had they not been discovered before the shells received 
the explosive contents. 



FIRST SHOT EFFECTIVE 



Americans Sink a German U-boat. Naval Gunners on the Mongolia 
Make Hit at Distance of Thousand Yards. 



Anniversary of Lexington Stirringly Celebrated Off the 
British Coast. 

LONDON, April 25, 4:45 p. m.— The Mongolia fired the first gun 
of the war for the United States and sunk a German submarine. 

The naval gunners on board made a clean hit at 1000 yards. The 
periscope was seen to be shattered. 

The submarine was about to attack the great liner in British 
waters on April 19. The U-boat was hit and destroyed. 

Even more pentinent a fact as regards the ultimate fate of the sub- 
marine was that the shell disappeared immediately after the hit was 
made. The captain stated that a shell always ricochets in the waters 
and can be seen again unless it finds the mark. Oil was seen on the 
water after the submarine disappeared. 



30 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 

The Mongolia was going at full speed and was a long distance 
away when the spray and foam subsided, but from the bridges the 
officers observed the spot through their glasses and they are confident 
the submarine was sunk. 

Tries First to Ram. 

The periscope was sighted dead ahead on the last afternoon of the 
voyage. The captain gave the order for full speed ahead with the 
intention of ramming the submarine. 

The periscope disappeared and a few minutes later reappeared on 
the ship's broadside. The gunners fired, hitting the periscope 
squarely and throwing up a fountain of water. 

Capt. Rice paid a high tribute to the gunners and to the manner 
in which they were handled by their officer. 

No Official Comment. 
WASHINGTON, April 25. — The policy of the government is to 
make no announcement or comment upon the destruction of a German 
submarine by the steamer Mongolia at this time. 

Roosevelt Delighted. 

OYSTER BAY (N. Y.). April 25.— Col. Theodore Roosevelt was 
gleeful tonight when told that a gun on the Mongolia named after 
him had sunk a German submarine. 

,"I am greatly rejoiced," he said, "and I congratulate the captain, 
the gunners and all the crew of the Mongolia. Thank heaven, some 
Americans have at last begun to hit. We have been altogether too 
long purely at the receiving end of this war Germany has waged 
on us." . R ! 

Former Pacific Liner. 

NEW YORK, April 25.— The American steamship Mongolia, a 
vessel of 13,638 tons, owned by the International Mercantile Marine 
Company, left an American port for London, April 7, on her second 
trip since Germany's submarine declaration of February L The 
vessel was formerly in the service of the Pacific Mail, plying between 
San Francisco and the Orient. 

The Mongolia carried a crew of United States navy gunners. She 
is one of the largest vessels under the American flag. 

The Mongolia was built at Camden, N. J., in 19(H, for the Pacific 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 31 

Mail Steamship Company. She was purchased by the International 
Mercantile Marine in 1915 and brought to the Atlantic, carrying 
freight only. 

April 19, the day on which the Mongolia fired the first shot of the 
war, is the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, when the first 
shot was fired in the American revolution. 

Who Captain Rice Is, 

Captain Emery Rice, who commanded the Mongolia, is the highest 
type of American shipmaster. He was born in the East and entered 
sea life as cadet on the schoolship St. Mary's nearly two decades ago. 

In the Spanish War he was quartermaster on an auxiliary cruiser 
and was awarded the Santiago medal for bravery at that famous 
battle. He served in the Red Star service as fourth and third officer 
before coming to this Coast. 



A WAR INCIDENT IN CALIFORNIA 

At Watts, a small city of some four or five thousand inhabitants, 
the population contained a large percentage of German sympathizers, 
the mayor being American born but of German stock. 

They became inflamed at the action of Congress in declaring war 
on Germany, hauled down the LTnited States flag from the U. S. 
post ofiice and aided and abbeted by the postmaster kept it down for 
48 hours. At length a mob of indignant citizens scaled the fortress- 
like building, which was constructed of solid concrete blocks and 
builded so the flag-stall could only be reached from the inside of the 
structure, one of the mob succeeded in reaching the flagstaff and 
immediately nailed the stars and stripes to the pole, amid the mutter- 
ings of the pro-Germans present. 

The owner of the building refused to raise the American colors or 
display them in the adjoining store. Throughout the struggle be- 
tween the German element and the Loyalists, the police of the city 
remained neutral. '£i"J^:_i.! 



32 



HISTORY OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN WAR 



THE SPIRIT OF '17. 

Everywhere throughout the United States, Old Glody made its 
appearance. Houses, stores, autos, and even trains display the 
National colors. 

The proper rules and regulations for the display of the American 
flag are : 

"Flags should not be hoisted before sunrise nor left up after sunset 
(except when under fire). It may be impossible to raise or take 
down exactly at these times, but flags should never be left up at 
night. 

"Flags should never be used as a cover over a table, desk or box 
or where anything can be placed uopn them. 

"If hung so stripes are horrizontal Union should be in left upper 
corner. If hung perpendicularly Union should be in right upper 
corner. 

"Flags should never be placed below a person sitting. 

"When carried in a parade or crossed with other flags Stars and 
Stripes should always be at right. 

"When the national flag and another fly from the same pole there 
should be double halyards, one for each flag." 



Following is the February, March and April list of American 
ships sunk by submarines since February 1, when unrestricted 
submarine warfare started: 



Ship 


Date 


Loss of Life 


Housatonic 


February 3 


none 


Lyman M. Law 


February 12 


none 


Algonquin 


March 12 


none 


Vigilancia 


March 16 


15 


City of Memphis 


March 17 


none 


Illinois 


March 16 


none 


Healdton 


March 21 


21 


Missourian 


April 4 


none 


Aztec (armed, hit by mine) 


April 1 


23 


Margaret 


April 27 


none 


Vacuum 


April 28 


23 


Rockingham (armed, missing) 


May 1 


13 


^ 11 nOl 


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